


A Brief History of the Folklore Tradition Surrounding the Herald of Andraste and the Dread Wolf

by Lunarflare14



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Academia, Drabble, F/M, Fact Academia, Fairy Tale Retellings, Historical Inaccuracy, One Shot, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-07 10:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3172048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarflare14/pseuds/Lunarflare14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Great legends fade. The lore gets said a hundred thousand times, each retelling distorting the truth. Facts get lost. But sometimes bits of the truth linger in the world.</p><p>OR</p><p>The one where the Dalish got their history right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Brief History of the Folklore Tradition Surrounding the Herald of Andraste and the Dread Wolf

The tale of the Herald and the Wolf has been retold throughout the past century so many times, most people do not know fact from fiction.

The original “Tale of the Inquisitor” was penned by a dwarf named Varric Tethras, who had been a companion to the Inquisitor Gierra Lavellan during the Breach Crisis. Along with many miraculous deeds, it states an elf, going by the name Solas, had cared deeply for the Herald and left her after the final battle with the Elder One. Despite her broken heart, she led the Inquisition to further fame and glory. Upon further investigation, no recent elven clan, Dalish or city elf, could claim the apostate.

Historical accounts confirm that the Inquisitor had a child less than a year after the fall of the Elder One. His name was logged in the Skyhold records as Fenlen, which translates to “wolf child”. Many personal accounts of the Herald allude to the child being raise communally, with Dorian Pavus being the main male figure in the child’s life. While there is no record of a father, the child’s name-day suggest it could have been the elf, Solas, since the preferences of Pavus and his close relationship with a Qunari mercenary leader were well known during the period.

While those are the facts that are to be believed, it was some time after that rumors of Solas’ origin began to form. The first recorded tale of him as “the Dread Wolf” was an oral tradition begun in the Herald’s clan, the Lavellan. 

_"The Herald was running to seal the breach. She had stolen the key to the doors into the Fade from the Elder One but she did not know how to use it. That was when the Wolf emerged, disguised as a simple elf mage. Silver tongued and quick witted, he grabbed her hand and thrust it forth, closing the rift._

_You see, the Wolf had a dark secret, the tears in the sky were because of him. The orb of the Elder One had once been his, and thus he’d betrayed the world a second time._

_Until the Herald had shown herself, he had been thinking of running. But as the first of the tear in the world sealed, the Wolf knew his heart was lost._

_The Herald had changed everything. Together they fought demons, darkspawn, dragons, whatever creatures in their path. Yet the Wolf couldn’t stay. Fear his secret would be found out, he fled after the Elder One’s defeat._

_The Herald, weighted by loss of her love, became recluse and distance for a moon. She slept, dreaming in the Fade, looking for her love, with no one answering her calls. When she emerged, she took up the title with renewed energy but after several month, was bed ridden once again. This time it was with a child._

_The birth was hard and it nearly killed mother and child. The Inquisition held its breath for weeks with nothing but hope. Then, on the morn after the full moon, the Herald and baby began to improve._

_Some say it was Andraste; that it wasn’t the Herald’s time to join the Maker. But the Herald wore an amulet of the Dread Wolf for the rest of her days.”_

_— translation from Daish and transcription by Lavellan Clan Scribe Sari, circa 9:70_

While this version remains true to many accounts of the Inquisitor’s life, it paints the Dread Wolf in a more gracious light then his other tails of cunning.

It is curious that the Dread Wolf portion wasn't added until after her disappearance in 9:64. Since then, the story has taken on many forms. In Orlais, the Dread Wolf manipulates and seduces the Herald to claim the orb for himself, leading her astray in the woods one night and forcing himself upon her. In the Free Marches, the Herald is the seducer, leading the Dread Wolf from the Fade and trapping him in an amulet around her neck. The Tevintar Imperium seemed to keep the closest to the Dalish’s version, only adding that the Dread Wolf came and stole her son in the night and she hunts him til this day.

Another tale that remains close to the events of the Inquisitor's life and the Dalish version of her tale is Fereldan’s version. It paints the Dread Wolf as a great antihero. A man’s quest to redeem himself after a foolish risk, accidentally falling in love with the Inquisitor, then ending the relationship when the lie became too great, before leaving in panic when the artifact he sought was destroyed. It is spun as a tragic romance; the Wolf, having walked the world alone, had found something in this world worth preserving and couldn’t bear the half-truths any longer. The same tale often has the Wolf coming to the Herald and their child when they are ill and healing them. 

What scholars cannot seem to pinpoint is why an apostate elf mage was suddenly being referred to as Dread Wolf.  The transition remains a mystery to this day. All that we do know is that the Inquisitor and the Wolf’s lore are now interconnected forever. Whether, he was truly her lover or a symbol used for thematic purposes Thedas may never know.


End file.
